It proved far harder than anyone in the Treasury thought at the time.
The reasons were myriad.
The
banks themselves were in far more of a financial mess than thought, the
economic downturn was deeper than expected, the full extent of the
appalling misconduct within banking (and the subsequent multi-billion
pound fines) had yet to be revealed, and the Liberal Democrat side of
the Coalition was far less keen on a sale than George Osborne.
All these factors came together to slow progress.
